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NBN rollout claims misleading: Turnbull

Minister for Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy and the national broadband network (NBN) are misleading Australians about the pace of the high-speed network's rollout, opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says.

"What the NBN does, and this is, I think, a deliberate effort to mislead people because it really does mislead people, is they use a metric that is used nowhere else in the industry that I have ever heard of," Mr Turnbull told ABC radio on Wednesday.

NBN Co repeated last week it was on track to meet its target of having work underway or completed for 758,000 homes and business by the year's end.

He said there were two metrics that were really relevant in measuring the progress of the rollout for the $37.4 billion project.

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The most relevant one was where premises were actually connected and the other one was where the cable had passed a place, Mr Turnbull said.

NBN Co said last week around 7000 premises were on its fibre network and forecast 54,000 homes would be connected by June 2013.

Telcos such as BT in the UK and AT&T in the US sought to reduce the time spent and the cost of upgrading broadband services in building a fibre-to-the-node network (FTTN), he said.

The coalition's plan for a NBN involved a mix of technologies including fibre, pay-tv cable, copper, wireless technology and satellite services.

A FTTN network would have high-speed fibre cable from the exchange to the node, a cabinet on a street corner, where the rest of the connection would be a fixed copper line to the premises.

"The critical point is the reason why fibre-to-the-node is so much cheaper, and it is generally in developed countries comparable with our own. It is around a quarter of the cost and about a quarter of the time to build," Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Turnbull has been critical of Labor's plan, calling it too expensive and too slow to provide broadband across Australia.

NBN Co is charged to deliver fibre-optic cable to deliver broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits a second (Mbps) to 93 per cent of homes, schools and business by June 2021, with the rest provided by wireless networks and satellite services.

Download speeds under a proposed FTTN network would vary between 25 Mbps and 80 Mbps, depending on how close the premises was to the node's cabinet.

12 comments so far

FTTN is a ridiculous option. Yes it may be quicker, but it WON'T be cheaper:

* there'll be a bar-fridge sized box on almost every street corner* this box will require power and cooling (ie air conditioning) just like the shed below a mobile phone tower does (most people don't realise that)* powering this box will be costed from "running costs" not "construction costs" BUT will actually cost much much more over the lifetime of the project* if a car hits it, dozens of homes will have no telephone. It is rare for a wayward car to bring down power (and phone) lines (and most phone lines are underground anyway). Even allowing for the small percentage of above-ground NBN, the risk is greatly increased by using these "boxes"* download speeds will be improved, however upload speeds not by so much which is important for businesses, home businesses, teleconferencing, video e-health monitoring and for the increasing use of backup and cloud services* the maintenance costs of the copper network (also costed to "maintenance" not "construction" but still paid from the same access fees) will remain high and growing, due to the age of the copper

This is a quick fix, a headline grabber. Mr Turnbull knows this, but won't admit it because Mr Abbott has instructed him to oppose it.

Commenter

peterh_oz

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 12:55PM

If Mr Abbott is to be believed (unless it was one of those ones he was lying about) because according to him he can be trusted unless it's written down. Some parts of this article will not happen under a LNP government because according to Mr Abbott he is planning to PAUSE/STOP the rollout of the NBN, At least it will be easier for them to count the premisis passed/under construction under that dubious plan??

The answer is NONE, ZERO, ZILTCH, exactly the plan Mr Turnbull, Mr Abbott and his ilk have for people of Australia. NO plan, No clue, they want us stuck in the dark ages along with their thinking.

Fools...

Commenter

GENIII

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 2:07PM

Obviously i meant he can't be trusted unless it's written down.

Aaron

Commenter

GENIII

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 3:14PM

peterh, I don't have the expertise to question your claims about FFTN but since you've mentioned cost, why the hell can virtually every country except Australia have UNLIMITED internet for around the $50 mark per month and even the highest priced NBN plan (almost $200 I believe) is not unlimited.

Commenter

Please Explain

Location

USA

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 2:24PM

There are a few reasons why Australia does not have widespread unlimited internet plans - though note that there *are* some out there (I'm on TPG's unlimited ADSL2+ plan for instance).

1: Location - an island requiring undersea cables to connect to the landmasses where most content is generated. This is much less of an issue now with Southern Cross Cable etc.

2: A monopolistic infrastructure owner with not enough regulation to force infrastructure upgrades or allow other ISPs to access their infrastructure at a competitive cost. This is where we have made great strides in regulating wholesale access to allow other ISPs to provide better value plans, also the consolidation of ISPs shows that those that can deploy their own infrastructure can prosper.This is also where the Labor NBN becomes much more important than the coalition. Labor will keep the entire NBN infrastructure in one highly regulated entity with strict controls on charges to ISPs and thus consumers. The infrastructure becomes standardised and easier to manage - FTTP/Satellite/Wireless plus we can ditch the expensive-to-maintain copper lines with DSL, ISDN, etc.The LNP plan complicates the NBN by rolling out local VDSL boxes everywhere, which then become obsolete when FTTP is installed. THAT is a total waste of money, and with the re negotiations required to change from FTTP to FTTN there will be no faster NBN under LNP.

Commenter

Quasimofoso

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 7:01PM

Tpg have an unlimited internet plan, with phone, for $70.

But i have to agree with The Other posters, FTTN is already far out of date, and its only advntage is that its not la ors plan (although it was in 2007 before it was rejected by the experts panel)

Commenter

Paul Krueger

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 3:18PM

Way back when Australia built the Sydney Opera House there was a politician who made his name and fame by criticizing the project. He said it took too long and cost too much. He said the project should be scrapped. He said a simpler and cheaper design (eg a big box) should be built. His motivation was simply to gain media attention and further his own political career. Any major public expenditure on a single project makes the govt of the day an easy target for this kind of politician. However if you want to inspire a new generation then you need to make bold plans to be the world's best. I'm sure that London could have saved a few pounds by putting the Tube lines above ground but who'd argue for that option today?.The Soviets sent cheap robots to the moon but who remembers that? Neil Armstrong on the other hand........ All I'm saying is.....Let's not aim for mediocre

Commenter

Sam

Location

Perth

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 3:21PM

The Question that Turnbull needs to be asked, "Is Fibre to the Node cheaper than Fibre to the Home if Fibre to the Home is eventually installed at some time in the future"Does this mean that Fibre to the Node is only cheaper if Fibre to the Home is never installed? Leaving of course all the cabinets and systems as stranded assets and eventually costing us more!does Turnbull's policy mean that the bush will end up with a much inferior service than the rest of Australia?

Commenter

Kevin Cobley

Location

Katoomba

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 3:57PM

Hey Sam, 12mbps is mediocrity and that's what the NBN bosses and Conroy are expecting the NBN to deliver to the average punter on the cheap rate. Why put in cable capable of a 1000 mbps and deliver that pathetically small bandwidth. There is no difference in cost, the cable is down and it's the same fibre. It's a joke, 100 mbps should be minimum speed for everyone. By 2021 (finish date) 12mbps will be embarassing so start with a decent number like 100 and do it right.

I don't even know when I'm getting it in my area? 2021 maybe? who knows - they won't release their long term plans.

Thank God I'm not in the 7% of Australians that get screwed with second rate services with max speeds of 12/1 and 6/1. $40 a month for 10gb at 6/1, + another $30/month for the ability to make phonecalls - actually phonecalls extra on top of that. What a crock, NBN shafting the people that need it most because they are the remotest. (http://www.iinet.net.au/nbn/satellite/plans.html). There are so few of these people why are they getting shafted on price as well as service, it'd make little difference to the botton line?

Conroy should be sacked and Labor should replace him with someone competent.

Commenter

James

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 5:39PM

HuhhhYes 12/1 is the lowest level plan, that is what the Satellite will be in 2015 so must be on the list. The wireless is currently 12/1 also, but once all the backhaul and transits are upgraded that is planned to be upgraded to 25/5 - (better than close to the exchange ADSL2+)

The current figures are that over 80% are taking up better than ADSL2+ plans with 44% of those on fibre opting for the 100/40

Several isp's do not even offer the 12/1. That is for the very light user and is still a major improvement over the copper unreliable unstable average of approx 6Mbs.

However the Libs will win the election and you can enjoy what they give you. A clue, history will be a guide. The Lib Leadership wants to kill the NBN and keep the sheltered workshop for those poor incompetent copper technicians going, someone has to employ them

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